Doug Polk joined a growing list of players to take up a heads-up challenge against Ossi ‘Monarch’ Ketola. Polk, widely recognized as one of the most prolific heads-up players, battled Ketola in a series of four online heads-up matches on the ClubWPT Gold, and in the finale, Polk clinched a $1.2 million win.
Ketola, the owner of the crypto-based Duel online gambling platform, created headlines repeatedly over the course of 2025. He lost an estimated $14 million in a series of heads-up matches against Dan ‘jungleman’ Cates. Ketola went on to set a record for the largest televised pot in poker history, against Alex Foxen, and then broke it again, against Bjorn Li.
Along the way, Ketola generated considerable controversy with social media posts proliferated by racial slurs. In October, Ketola faced three separate account bans on X.
After a long stretch without high profile poker action, Ketola returned to battle Polk. Unlike the previous high visibility matches Ketola played, which played out on late-night live streams at major festivals, Polk took the battle online. The four matches between Polk and Ketola played out on ClubWPT, the online poker platform Polk currently represents. Polk sold Upswing Poker, his online training platform, to ClubWPT Gold back in August.
In late September, ClubWPT Gold announced changes to move away from a sweepstakes model, in response to new laws in California and other parts of the United States.
Polk Steps Up To The Challenge
Polk hosted his online battle on his personal YouTube channel. With the online poker action centered, Polk and Ketola appeared in the bottom right corner in a split screen. The first match, like the two that followed it, would be played for $400,000 each.
The first two matches both came down to massive preflop all-ins. With Polk slightly ahead in chips, and blinds of 2,000/4,000, Ketola raised to 10,000 on the button, Polk three-bet to 40,000, and Ketola four-bet all-in for 363,500.
After a moment to think it over, Polk called with pocket sevens. Ketola had A♣5♣, and the board ran out clean.
746,000 pot and we’re all-in with Ace-Queen suited!
800k Match #3 starting now: https://t.co/BalWgfEwYd pic.twitter.com/LvJtupy7hR
— Doug Polk (Code Doug) (@DougPolkVids) November 10, 2025
Ketola had the best of it the second time around. The action, excepting a slight difference in total chips, was identical to the first all-in and call. This time, Ketola’s four-bet shove was worth 373,000. Polk, holding A♦Q♦, found another call. Ketola’s A♣K♦ was ahead, until a Q♣5♥2♣ flop. The 4♣ turn brought chop outs and a flush draw for Ketola, but the 6♥ kept Polk’s pair of queens best.
Polk’s YouTube stream crashed during the third $800,000 match, which Ketola won. The stream returned for the fourth and final battle, with the stakes doubled to a total of $1.6 million.
On the final hand of the night, Polk cracked Ketola’s pocket aces with a rivered heart flush. That hand secured Polk the biggest single session victory of his poker career.
WHAT A RIVER!!!
We were playing 2x the shown stakes here so this was a pot to win a 1,600,000 match
In total I won 1,200,000 for the day, the biggest cash game win of my entire life pic.twitter.com/Z0FmA98Gv3
— Doug Polk (Code Doug) (@DougPolkVids) November 10, 2025
Check out the full broadcast of the final match from Polk’s YouTube channel below.
Ossi Ketola photo courtesy of Triton Poker.
